Water closet seat



No. 749,083. PATENTEDVJAN. 5, 1904. 0. P. MoELROY. WATER CLOSET SEAT.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 30, 1903.

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No. 749,083. PATENTED JAN. 5, 1904. 0. P. MoELRO Y.

WATER CLOSET SEAT.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. so, 1903.

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PATENT OFFIC YWMATER-CLVOSET SEAT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 749,083, dated January 5, 1904.

Application filed September 30,1903. SerialNo. 175.111. (No model.) i

To all whom it may concern:

, Be it known that -I, CORA P. MCELROY, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Water-Closet Seats, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, forminga part of this specification- My invention relates to water-closet seats, and has for its object to provide a seat-cover for water-closet bowls and commodes which, while enabling wood to be used in making the seat and its cover, will operate to prevent the destruction and fouling of the wood from the noxious vapors and wet which inthe usual use of such devices attack those portions of the seat audits cover exposed thereto, hence not only prolonging the life of the seat, but preserving it in a cleanly and more or less perfect sanitarycondition.

To these ends my invention consists in the construction of such a seat, consisting of the usual seat proper and its cover composed of wood, by providing the under faces of the seat proper and its cover with recesses, as hereinafter described, and combining therewith a permanent inlaid surface within said recesses of porcelain, enamel, or other like material capable of resisting the aforesaid noxious vapors and wet.

In the drawings illustrating my invention, Figure l is a side elevation of a water-closet bowl in usual fixed position, the top of the bowl with the seat and its cover in vertical section. Fig. 2 is a plan view of under face of the seat proper, and Fig. 3 a like view of the under face of the cover portion. Fig. 4 is a side elevation, partly in section, showing the embodiment 'of my invention in a movable commode; and Figs. 5 and 6 are plan views of the under face of the seat proper and its cover.

The preservation of the life and sanitary condition of water-closet seats from the destructive and fouling efiects of the noxious vapors and wet has long been sought and various methods devised to accomplish the object-notably, making them wholly of metal or inserting a removable extra metal seat or making them of wood and covering the whole of the same with heavily-applied furniture- I varnish or enamel paints, and it has also been heretofore proposed to envelop the whole seat in a celluloid or other like casing. None 'of these plans seem to meet the conditions, as evidenced by apparent lack of popular approval. There 'is no doubt that wood is the -best material for the purpose, for the reasons that it is not only cheap, but the seat can be made therefrom in sections and joined together, ordinary hinges and fastening de vices can be readilyapplied to it, it is strong and light in weight, and easily and cheaply 'cut and shaped to the required forms. Its porosity is its great disadvantage, and that I overcome by my invention, taking advantage in so doing of the easy workable char- :acter of wood and of its adaptability to sup- :port and maintain a light inlaid sheet or surface of enamel, porcelain, cement, or the like.

Referring to the drawings, Sheet 1, Fig. 1, A represents the usual porcelain or stone bowl, which may be of any usual conformation, permanently fixed by usual means to the floor of the closet-room.

B is aplan of the under face of the seat proper, and C represents the under face of the cover therefor. shape in exterior planular outline, and B, the seat proper, has the usual central opening D, the rim edge of which slopes downward on a curve (indicated at d) to provide a rounded edge, (see Fig. 1,) whilethe base of this rim of the opening D is coincident with the horizontal planular outline of the remainder of the under face of the seat B. The same is also true of the seat proper (indicated at B) of a commode. (Shown in Fig. 4.) The seat proper and its cover, in the method and means of hinging them to the bowl A, may be as shown at E, Fig. 1, for a watercloset or in any other usual way, or the seat may be fixed to the commode-frame and the cover only secured by a hinge, as shown at E in Fig. 4. The parts which are exposed to and affected by the wet and vapors aforesaid are of course that section of the under face of the seat B and cover 0 which when in closed position are superposed over the inner edge of the rim a of the bowl. Hence I protect only those parts of the wooden seat and cover by an in- Both are usually of oval laid sheet of material not afiected by such wet andvaporsuch as porcelain,enamel,cement,

or the 1ikewhich will at the same time not be too brittle for the purpose. To combine such inlaid sheets with the wood, a section of the under face of the seat B is recessed, the recess being shallow, as at m, where it passes into the edge (1 of the opening D, and preferably deeper at 'n. The edge of the latter may be square, as shown, or, if preferred, may be inclined to form a dovetailed vertical wall. This outer wall of the recess extends to or over the rim edge (1 of the bowl. The relation of the recess to the inner or outer edges of the seat proper and of the inlay to be fixed therein is indicated clearly in Fig. 2. As buffers to re ist the impact blow of the seat and cover and prevent fracture when the latter are thrown down, accidentally or otherwise, I provide the usual rubberheaded screws, (indicated at S S S in the several figures.) In the recess m n is inlaid a thin sheet F of porcelain of suitable planular outline and cemented therein, the rubber-headed buffer-screws performing the additional function of aiding the cement in fastening the inlaid porcelain sheet to the wooden seat. It is obvious that in lieu of applying sheet material the recess m 02 may be filled with cement in plastic condition, which when it hardens can be covered, if desired, by any usual enamelfinishing paint. The seat-cover O is centrally recessed at M to receive an inlay-sheet F, the buffer-screws S in that case not passing through the inlay-sheet, as shown in Fig. 3. The recess M and inlay-sheet F of the seatcover 0 are of such corresponding size as to wholly cover the opening D in the seat proper.

The specific application of the invention to a commode is sufficiently indicated by Figs.

4, 5, and 6, in which A is the commode-frame; D, the bowl; B, the fixed seat; m 11. the inlay-recess therein, and F the inlaid sheet. Coupled with the description already given of the water-closet the invention as embodied in a commode need not be further described. This form of the device is especially useful for hospitals, and its utility in such form, as well as its utility in ordinary waterclosets, such as shown in Fig. 1, I have demonstrated by repeated tests.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Aseat and cover therefor for water-closets and com modes, composed essentially of wood in its body contact portions and in its parts whereby it is secured to the closet frame or bowl, the seat proper being recessed on its under face surrounding the usual central opening therein, and the cover therefor being similarly recessed centrally where it 00- incides with said opening, said recesses being provided with an inlaid facing composed of material impervious to water and acid vapors.

2. A seat and cover therefor for water-closet bowls and the like, composed wholly or mainly of wood, the central portion of the under face of each of which overlying the bowl is recessed and provided with an inlaid facing composed of material impervious to water and acid vapors, said facing being fixedly secured in said recess, and rubber-headed impact screws adapted and located on said seat and cover to resist the impact blow froma forcible bringing of the same to normal closed position over the bowl tending to fracture the inlaid facing on the seat and its cover.

3. A seat for water-closet bowls composed wholly or mainly of wood, the under face of which surrounding the usual central seatopening therein, is provided with a shallow recess, a facing composed of material impervious to water and acid vapors inlaid in said recess, and rubber-headed buffer-screws passing through said inlaid facing and penetrating into the seat.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature this 8th day of September, A. D. 1903.

OORA P. MCELROY.

Witnesses:

A. FLORENCE SERGE-R, A. M. BIDDLE. 

